The AAS Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy maintains this blog to disseminate information relevant to astronomers who identify as women. If you have an idea for a blog post or topic, please submit to wia-blog at lists.aas.org.
The views expressed on this site are not necessarily the views of the CSWA, the AAS, its Board of Trustees, or its membership.

This spring, I am teaching a graduate class in which two students will (separately) become first-time parents before the end of the semester. I would like to make sure that they get as much as possible out of my class, despite the likelihood that they will be extremely distracted (if not altogether absent) for long stretches. If you have been in a similar situation as either teacher or student, I would be grateful for your thoughts on any measures taken by the professor that were or were not helpful. Many thanks in advance.

[From the editors: Please email your advise to aaswomen_at_aas.org and we'll incorporate your responses in the next newsletter and/or blog. Please inform us whether or not to include your name with your advise.]

Excerpts: ...Professor Babcock, Hannah Riley Bowles (Harvard's Kennedy School of Government) and Carnegie Mellon researcher Lei Lai, found that men and women get very different responses when they negotiate for larger salaries. This study found that both men and women were more likely to penalize women who asked for a larger salary; the perception being that women who asked for more were "less nice." ... Researcher Hannah Riley Bowles summed the findings up for the Washington Post, "This isn't about fixing the women. It isn't about telling women, 'You need self-confidence or training.' They are responding to incentives within the social environment... you have to weigh that against social risks of negotiating. What we show is those risks are higher for women than for men."

However, this study found no gender differences: Author: Martin, Meisha .Ann, University of South Florida, 2006 Title: Explaining Gender Differences in Salary Negotiations Abstract: The current study explores the effects of gender on salary negotiation behaviors and expectancies and the relationship between these variables and starting salary outcomes. College students from a variety of different majors were surveyed prior to and then approximately two to four months after graduation. Though there was no gender difference in final salary or difference between initial and final salary offer, men reported using more aggressive and active salary negotiation behaviors. The results also suggest that men may have felt more empowered in the salary negotiation context. They expected higher salaries than women did, anticipated less discomfort and believed themselves to be less emotional in the salary negotiation context. In addition, males and females both considered stereotypically masculine traits as more effective in the negotiation context than stereotypically feminine traits and this difference was even larger for women than it was for men. Despite the above findings, the absence of gender differences in starting salary outcomes may have been caused by the perception that salary was non-negotiable, as few participants in this study made counteroffers. Future studies are needed to expand the number of field studies on gender differences in salary negotiation and to examine the variables above using a more diverse sample.

[We continue to summarize work presented at the Women in Astronomy III conference held at the University of Maryland October 21-23, 2009 - Eds.]

Marc Kuchner, NASA, presented at the WIA III conference and has since started a facebook page on "What Madison Avenue can teach us about how to get ahead in the business of science." In facebook, search for "Marketing For Scientists" and request to join the group. Currently there are 392 members, and they have lively discussions about job interviews, buzzwords, proposal writing, and so on. You night want to recommend this to upcoming graduates and also have them see #6 below.

Marc Kuchner is also working on a book called "Marketing for Astrophysicists." For further information, please email Marc Kuchner at marc.j.kuchner_at_nasa.gov.

A lot of recent public and web interest has focused on the issue of whether the alignment of our Sun with the plane or center of the Milky Way Galaxy might cause some disaster in 2012. Astronomy Beat #32 has an article for you on Doosday 2012 that is written by David Morrison who is a Senior Scientist from the NASA Astrobiology Institute. The pdf article can be downloaded from

The next Globe at Night is to be held March 3-16, 2010. Globe at Night is a fortnight event around the world designed to engage students worldwide in observing the nighttime sky, to encourage citizen and family science with hands-on learning activities outside the classroom, and to gather light pollution data from an international perspective. In 2009, over 15,000 measurements were received for the IYA2009 Campaign. To find out more information about the next Globe at Night, see

The National Research Council of the National Academies sponsors a number of awards for graduate, postdoctoral and senior researchers at federal laboratories and affiliated institutions. These awards provide generous stipends ($42,000 - $75,000 per year for recent Ph.D. recipients and higher for additional experience; Master's level stipends are $38,000 per annum), and the opportunity to do independent research in some of the best-equipped and staffed laboratories in the U.S. Research opportunities are open to U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and for some of the laboratories, foreign nationals.

Detailed program information, including instructions on how to apply online and a list of participating laboratories, is available on the NRC Research Associateship Programs Web site at:

The deadline for grant requests and abstract submission is now February 15th, 2010.

The invited speakers will review a wide range of topics related to star formation, including observations and computational modeling, as well as computational techniques and specialized hardware. We will tour the Mare Nostrum Supercomputer Center, named the most beautiful Supercomputer Center in the world by Fortune Magazine.

Barcelona is a beautiful city on the Mediterranean coast. The conference will take place on the campus of the University of Barcelona.

Small grants of up to $400 are available to assist meeting attendees at the APS March meeting (Portland, Oregon) who are bringing small children or who incur extra expenses in leaving them at home. Please go to

There is going to be a gathering of people interested in LGBTIQQAP+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer, questioning, asexual, pansexual, etc.) issues in physics at the APS Meeting in DC on February 15, 7:00pm-9:00pm, at the Marrriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington D.C. in the Cleveland II room. Currently there is extremely little in the way of resources for LGBTIQQAP+ physicists. This meeting will be a conversation to start creating these resources. Some topics that will be on the discussion floor: lack of employment protections on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression, lack of data on the LGBTIQQAP+ physicist demographics, health insurance policies for domestic partners and transgender related health care, and creating networking resources so that LGBTIQQAP+ physicists have a means of communicating with one another.

If you have any questions please let us know at lgbt.physicists_at_gmail.com.

Raymond Walters College, Department of Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science (MPCS) invites applications for a tenure track position at the rank of Assistant Professor in physics beginning September 1, 2010.

Raymond Walters is a two-year regional campus of the University of Cincinnati that also awards a variety of four-year technical degrees. The MPCS Department currently has 16 full-time faculty with four teaching physics courses ranging from introductory physics to engineering physics. The successful candidate may also be required to teach some lower level mathematics courses as well.

Job Description: We are seeking a person who is deeply committed to teaching, with accomplished teaching experience in physics courses and is knowledgeable in the use of technology relevant to physics and classroom pedagogy.

Participation in the governance and committee work of the department, college, and university, and to be professionally active in the discipline of physics and/or the scholarship of teaching and learning is expected. The standard teaching load is 12 credit hours per quarter and may include evening classes; class sizes normally range from 16 to 30 students. Salary and rank are commensurate with experience and education.

The American Association of University Professors serves as the collective bargaining agent for full-time faculty; see the Chapter's website

The University of Cincinnati is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer. UC is a smoke-free work environment.

Back to top.11. Assistant Professor in Physics, University of Wisconsin-StoutFrom: WIPHYS Jan. 14, 2010

The University of Wisconsin-Stout, Wisconsin’s Polytechnic University, invites applications for a tenure-track, entry-level position for Assistant Professor in Physics beginning August 2010.

A Ph.D. in Physics, Physics Education, or closely related field is required when contract starts. Applicants should have a strong potential and commitment to undergraduate teaching. Seeking external funding for scholarly activities is desirable. UW-Stout is a laptop campus and willingness to use technology in the classroom is required. Construction on a new science building will be complete in Fall 2010. Additional information and directions for applying can be found at

or by contacting the search committee chair Dr. Laura McCullough at McCulloughL_at_uwstout.edu. Applications must be complete by February 15th, 2010 at 5 p.m. CST. The University of Wisconsin-Stout values diversity and strives to attract qualified women and minority candidates. EO/AA.

Back to top.12. Full-time (Tenure Track) positions in Astronomy, LOS RIOS Community College DistrictFrom: The Chronicle of Higher Education

The Los Rios Community College District's four colleges [American River College, Cosumnes River College, Folsom Lake College, Sacramento City College] serve the greater Sacramento region. With a student population of approximately 90,000 and a service area of 2,400 square miles, the District is the second largest in California and is one of the top statewide in transferring students to the UC and CSU systems. In addition, the district provides 76 two-year vocational programs and 63 technical certificate programs. Our District offers excellent salaries and benefits and encourages and promotes the continuous professional development of all. Los Rios Community College District is a past recipient of the Sacramento Workplace Excellence Leader Award.

LRCCD is currently recruiting for the following, full-time, tenure-track faculty positions: Astronomy [among many others]. For details, see